The invention relates to disposable containers for food products and more particularly to containers of the kind contemplated which can be used for the merchandising display, heating and subsequent human consumption of the contained product.
The use of metal containers for the storage and merchandising display of heatable food products is well known. Many people have a need or desire to use the storage container when heating the food product to the desired temperature and frequently have the need or desire to consume the heated product directly from the container. A typical situation where the need or desire arises is when a person is in a wilderness area, as on a hike for business or recreational purposes and where separate heating and eating utensils merely add to the weight of the baggage that must be packed into the area by the person.
The desire to use the display container for the heating and direct consumption of heatable food products also prevails in some households and where the cleaning of heating and eating utensils is preferably avoided by the product consumer or sometimes rendered inconvenient because of lack of modern household water facilities.
A problem with the current prior art disposable containers for heatable food products lies in the fact that the food product can either not be heated in the disposable container because of the materials of construction or, alternatively, if heated, cannot be consumed directly from the container by the consumer because the container is at that point too hot to manipulate directly with the fingers much less to encounter the consumer's lips in the direct consumption of the product.